As a consequence, the South Stream project was suspended. Of course somebody can say there are political colors and etc. However, the European Union chose this way and all arguments are meaningless. Similar claims were also advanced while SOCAR was acquiring 66.7% of DESFA, Azerbaijani energy minister Natig Aliyev said.
The minister considers that the EU is not a party creating difficulties in DESFA privatization: “They only said must research whether or not this procedure is contrary to the requirements of the Third Energy Package. But we explain that SOCAR is not a monopolist. Because we don’t own 100% of transporting gas. You know that gas belong to all consortiums. On the other side, we don’t own 100% of transportation system either. In other word, SOCAR has not 100% equity in any project. New Greek government creates difficulties. They try to have political dividend. This tendency continues today. We are yet analyzing the situation. You know that after amendments, DESFA shares went down twice”.
Answering the question “May SOCAR refuse DESFA privatization?”, the minister said: “We must deeply conduct analysis. What will DESFA give to our state in this situation and how it will be profitable for SOCAR? We must reconsider the proposals. You know that according to recommendations of the EU, SOCAR reduces its share in DESFA from 66% to 49%. Negotiations on selling 17% to Italy’s Snam Company are underway. I said DESFA purchase is advantageous for us because we will become distributor in Europe. Moreover, we get opportunity to sell our gas to Bulgaria through Bulgaria-Greece interconnector. In any case we don’t lose anything”.
Greek government earns political dividend by DESFA privatization – Minister
09 September 2016
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The essence of EU Third Energy package is to make sure there is no room for monopoly. As you know, such claims were advanced against Gazprom, AzVision.az reports citing APA.
